Los Angeles says No to Corporate Personhood

Should corporations have the same rights as individual people and have the right to contribute as much as they want to political candidates? The city of Los Angeles just said "no" and are leading the fight against the recent Supreme Court ruling.

Los Angeles, CA - December 6, 2011 - Los Angeles today became the first major U.S. city to vote against corporate personhood and further call for a Constitutional Amendment asserting that corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights and that money is not free speech. The unanimous vote was witnessed in Council chambers packed by a standing room only crowd of hundreds of people as well as a overflow room filled to capacity by enthusiastic supporters. The resolution was sponsored by City Council President Eric Garcetti and seconded by Council Members Bill Rosendahl and Paul Krekorian with passionate support by Council Members Richard Alarcon,and Paul Koretz. The action is in response to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which gives corporations the same 1st Amendment protections as people and allows them to spend unlimited funds on campaign finance.

Said Mary Beth Fielder, Move To Amend- LA founder, who spearheaded the effort to bring the resolution to the LA City Council. "It's a great day for Los Angeles and it's a great day for the United States of America. I hope this is the vote heard around the world and that it will inspire other who want to reclaim our democracy to begin organizing in their communities. Together we can build the grassroots support we need to actually amend our constitution."

"Every struggle to amend the constitution began as just a group of regular Americans who wanted to end slavery, who thought women should vote, who believed that if you're old enough to be drafted, you should be old enough to vote," said Council President Eric Garcetti. "These are how American amendments move forward from the grassroots when Americans say enough is enough. We're very proud to come together and send a message but more than that, this becomes the official position of the City of Los Angeles, we will officially lobby for this. I also chair a group which oversees all the Democratic mayors and council members in the country and we're going to share this with all our 3,000 members and we hope to see this start here in the west and sweep the nation until one day we do have a constitutional amendment which will return the power to the people. "

"What we saw in that chamber today was the beginning of a sea change in the way people think about politics in America and I hope that this will be the first day of a long and sustained movement that changes the way we represent ourselves and the way we demand the kind of government that we deserve," said Council Member Paul Krekorian.

"I could not believe the coalition of energy that filled the council chambers today," said Council Member Bill Rosendahl. "It made a huge difference. It was democracy at its best!